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Rogue trader: I made a fortune on 7/7
Ian Sparks in Paris22 Jan 2009
THE rogue trader accused of losing a French bank £3.5 billion has revealed he "made a stock market killing" out of the 7/7 bombings in London.
High-stakes broker Jérôme Kerviel, 32, told how only days before the attacks he gambled on the markets that the share price of global insurance giant Allianz would tumble.
When the London bombings took place in 2005, killing 52 commuters and injuring 700, the price of Allianz stock crashed and within minutes Kerviel had made about £350,000.
Kerviel, who was due to appear before investigating magistrates for the last time today before his case is prepared for trial, said: "At first I celebrated like mad because I didn't know about the bombs and thought the share price had fallen because London had been hit by a major power cut. I thought I'd hit the jackpot by short-selling Allianz stock, making a half a million euro killing in a few minutes."
In an interview with French daily Le Parisien, he went on: "Then all of a sudden I heard the news and realised that while I had been celebrating, people had been blown up by bombs. I ran to the toilets and threw up -but that moment of weakness didn't last long because I had to get back to my desk and get back to work."
But Kerviel said the Soc Gen bank also 'made a fortune' on the day of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York.
He said: "I heard it was the best day's trading in the bank's history. I don't know how much they made, but apparently the gains were colossal."
Kerviel, 32, was sacked by the Paris-based bank in January last year for amassing the biggest trading losses in history. He is currently facing charges of breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers, and faces three years in prison and a £300,000 fine.
The Brittany-born trader, now working as a lowly IT consultant in Paris, has always insisted the bank's bosses knew about his high-risk trading strategy and is making him a 'a scapegoat'.
But Soc Gen lawyer Jean Veil said: "The losses that he generated were the financial equivalent of the sudden disappearance of five nuclear power stations. This man single-handedly cost the bank a fortune and should have been kept locked up to prevent him from either escaping or contacting people who could prejudice the investigation."
Reader views (7)
He was not a good trader and ultimately made no money for either the bank or himself. I hope the French have the good sense to lock him up. If it was the UK we'd have done thown away the key by now.
- Donald, Haywards Heath, 23/01/2009 09:03
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why would he give his profits to the victims? does he look like a charity to you? why didnt you go and give money to the victims and if you did thats your choice. what because a man makes money at the time of a tragedy then he is obliged to give money to victims?. You do realise he has nothing to do with 7/7 apart from taking the gamble on the stock trade. You talk about moral society when your an example of a envy society. A guy makes thousands and all of a sudden he should give money to victims.
- Joe, London, 23/01/2009 08:58
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Regarding the profits he made, he never really had a lot of it and that is one of the reason why all of this happen. He does not come from the top school in France and was considered from a lower class so he had to "prove" he was good and took more risk.
- Elvis, Brixton, 23/01/2009 08:43
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I see nothing wrong really - he placed the trade before the attacks. I worked for a stockbrokers then and we had many enquiries on the day from people (the general public) demanding to short-sell airline stocks etc once they heard. One even commented later on "it may have been a bad day for some people, but it's been a good day for me!"
- James, London, 22/01/2009 23:48
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"now working as a lowly IT consultant"
..... why the low opinion of IT workers?
- Nick, london, 22/01/2009 18:35
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Sounds as though he can afford the fine, at least: some you win...
- Mdj, Leyton, e10 london, 22/01/2009 18:27
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I don't suppose he thought that after throwing up he would give his profits to the victims,No? didn't think so. No doubt the rest of the "winners" French or otherwise didn't think to do that either, which just shows what a morally bankrupt society we live in.
- Kerry, Purley, 22/01/2009 17:34
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